Novels by Michael Okafor

The Blackhaven Founders' Gala filled the top three floors of the Meridian Tower — a building Ethan now technically owns a piece of, a detail he hadn't bothered mentioning to Halloway when he asked for an invitation. Below the chandeliers, half the city's old money stood in small, careful clusters, the kind of room where everyone was watching everyone and pretending not to. Sophia saw him first. There was this look she had on her face that he couldn't quite describe. It was something between surprise, shock, and bewilderment "Ethan," she said. "I didn't know you'd be here.""Neither did I, a month ago," he said. Julian Vance arrived the way his kind did, mid-conversations, already being agreed with. He stopped when he saw Ethan standing with Sophia, who had the same facial expression as Sophia. "You're the one who's been meddling in Larchmont," Julian said, no greetings, no pretense. "I wondered when you'd slow yourself somewhere I could actually talk to you.""You could have calle

Halloway had the file ready within two days, thicker that anything he'd pulled on Keller or Cole combined. "Vance Realty Group. Third largest residential developer in Blackhaven. Julian's father, Everett Vance, built it over thirty years. Julian's been running the East Side redevelopment division for the last two years — evicting families out of buildings his company deliberately lets fall apart, then redeveloping the land at triple value.""Is any of it illegal?""Some of it's close enough that a good lawyer could make it expensive for him," Halloway said. "None of it's illegal enough to end him outright. Julian Vance isn't Vince Keller, Mr Cross. He's not some small-time predator you can outspend by lunch. His family has relationships with three banks, half the zoning board, and enough of the city council that even bad press tends to evaporate before it does real damage.""Then we won't come at him with the press," Ethan said. "What's he actually afraid of losing?"Halloway consider

"What do you want from me?," Brandon asked, his voice already breaking, the realization of his current situation already sinking in his mind. "As a majority owner, I'm exercising my right to review every foreman's conduct record," Ethan said. "Yours is remarkable. Eleven complaints for verbal abuse. Two for physical intimidation. One incident, five years ago, that half the crowds remember clearly, involving a nineteen-year-old temp and a day's wage.""That was—""Effective immediately, you are demoted to general labor," Ethan said. "Same site, same crew, same wages I earned the day I stood where you're standing. For the next month, your job is cleaning the site toilets, because that's the only task on this payroll that I trust you not to abuse anyone over."Laughter rippled through the crowd, quiet and disbelieving, then louder. "You can't do this," Brandon said, but he was already looking at faces that used to flinch when he walked by and weren't flinching anymore. "My father buil

Halloway had warned him news travelled fast in certain circles, and he was right. Within a week, whispers about a nobody who'd bought Meridian Holdings and humbled Vince Keller In broad daylight reached exactly the ears Ethan wanted — including, eventually, a young foreman who'd once made a nineteen-year-old day laborer kneel in wet concrete and bark like a dog for asking to be paid on time. "Sir," Cole Construction's senior partner said carefully over the phone, "the papers are already filed. Cross Holdings has acquired an eighty percent stake overnight. He's requested a full staff meeting at the site this morning.""That's impossible," Brandon Cole said. "My father built that company from nothing. Nobody buys it without us not knowing.""Sir, he's already at the site."Brandon arrived to find Ethan standing exactly where the old foreman's shed used to be, wearing a suit that cost more than Brandon's car, surrounded by the whole crew, none of them who had been told why they'd been g

In the car, Lily was quiet a long time, watching the East Side slide past the window, streets she'd grown up terrified of."Is that it?," she asked finally. "Is it over now?"Ethan thought about lying to her. He'd done it before, told her thing's would be fine when he had no idea if they would, because that was what an older brother did when there was nothing else to give. He didn't lie this time. "No," he said. "Keller was the smallest one. There's a version of him at every level of this city, and some of them are going to be harder to make kneel."Lily nodded slowly, like she'd already suspected as much. "Then I want to be there. For the ones that matter.""Lily—""You don't get to protect me from this by yourself," she said. "I watched you kneel in that alley for me once. I've earned the right to watch you stand back up."He didn't answer, but he didn't argue either. She was right to an extent, but the life he saw himself living from that moment was going to put her in danger one

Vince Keller had built his reputation on one rule: no one who owed him money got to feel safe, ever, anywhere. So when his assistant told him a stranger was waiting in his own office on a Friday afternoon, sitting in his chair, Keller laughed before he even opened the door. "You lost, friend, This is my—" He stopped. It took him a second to place the face, longer to believe. "Ethan Cross. Little Ethan. Look at the suit on you. Whose funeral you rob for that?""Nobody's yet," Ethan said. "Sit down, Vince.""This is my office.""Not anymore." Ethan slid a folder across the desk. "Meridian Holdings owned this building as of Tuesday. Meridian is mine. Your lease is mine. I'd rather talk before I have you removed by court's order."Keller looked at Ethan, looked at the document, then back at Ethan. "Is this a joke?," he asked. "I'm sure you're not illiterate. You went to high school at least. You should understand what's in the folder. If you don't, I can explain it to you, but first you